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Two species of the family Pinaceae common in the Mountain Province: (1) Benguet Pine, native to the Philippines, also known as Baguio pine, Pinus kesiya, Pinus insularis and (2) Cuban pine, Pinus carbaea, recenty introduced.

Family • Pinaceae
Cuban pine
Pinus caribaea Morelet
PITCH PINE

Other scientific subspecies Common names
Pinus caribaea var, bahamensis (Griseb.) Cuban pine (Engl.)
Pinus caribaea var, caribaea Pitch pine (Engl.)
Pinus taeda var. heterophylla Elliot Pino de la costa (Span.)
  Yellow pine (Bahamas)


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Botany
A fast-growing evergreen tree growing to a height of 30 m. Leaves are in fascicles of 3 to 5, glossy dark green, up to 30 cm long. Cones are conic-oblong, up to 15 cm long.

Distribution
Recently introduced to the Philippines.
Found in the high altitude areas of the Mountain Province.
Occasionally cultivated in the lowlands where it thrives poorly.

Parts used
Leaves, bark, latex.

Properties and constituents
• Phytochemical study yi

Uses
Folkloric
No recorded folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.

Studies
• Antioxidant / antimutagenic: A study showed Pinus caribeae and C. citratus extracts were antigenotoxic suggesting antimutagenic components and activity unlike its antioxidant activity.
• Antimicrobial: One of the plants extracts in a study to evaluate antimicrobial activity, Pinus caribaea showed moderate activity against Bacillus sp.

Availability
Wildcrafted.


Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Usefulness of the SOS chromotest in the study of medicinal plants as radioprotectors
International journal of radiation biology ISSN 0955-3002 / 2006, vol. 82, no5, pp. 323-329
(2)
DIFFERENTIAL SENSITIVITY OF BACILLUS sp. ISOLATED FROM ARCHIVE MATERIALS TO PLANT EXTRACTS
Pharmacologyonline 3: 649-658 (2008)
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